Comments on: Found Poem

By: cjporkchop

cjporkchop — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 20:41:00 +0000

As far as I know, it’s real. IIRC, Rahoi.com was a blog written by an American ex-pat married to a Chinese woman and living in China. I saved the entire “May I Take Your Order” page to my computer in 2008, in case it were to ever be taken down. Glad I did.

There are a couple of images missing from the Google cache near the end –
“Gold silver lotus root silk fries shrimp fucks”
and
“Benumbed hot vegetables fries fuck silk”

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 03:44:00 +0000

I typed ปลากะพง into Google translate, and it gave me “Striped bass”. My guess is that someone used a dictionary manually, which is a no-no. Use the machines. The machines know more than you do.

By: Jorpho

Jorpho — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 02:32:00 +0000

Of course I had to look that up, and shortly found myself compelled to revisit “The Villanelle”, quite possibly the greatest Cat and Girl strip.
http://catandgirl.com/archive/2006-09-22-cg0383villanelle.gif

By: Jorpho

Jorpho — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 02:30:00 +0000

This is totally worthy of a framed Esty crossstitch.

By: The Life Of Bryan

The Life Of Bryan — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 23:06:00 +0000

A Brazilian thicket… would that be a sidewalk?

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 21:20:00 +0000

Or just get a Brazilian.

By: แอ็ะปปี้

แอ็ะปปี้ — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 17:42:00 +0000

They don’t! Somehow, you get used to it. #maybehashtagswilldothistoenglishoneday

By: UltraVerified

UltraVerified — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 15:46:00 +0000

Oh these clever international marketing schemes ..

{where is this restaurant, and when does it open?}

By: แอ็ะปปี้

แอ็ะปปี้ — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 15:45:00 +0000

Yeah the boring explanation is someone (a machine?) translated ปลากะพง (bass) as individual words- ปลา กะ พง (fish estimate thicket).

By: EarthtoGeoff

EarthtoGeoff — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 15:40:00 +0000

It’s… it’s beautiful.

By: The Life Of Bryan

The Life Of Bryan — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 15:22:00 +0000

If spicy foods anger your thicket, perhaps you should speak to a doctor.

By: pizzicato

pizzicato — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 14:32:00 +0000

meh, both cost the same anyway, 300 baht for fish thicket with burning salts is good pricing. Sawatikup.

By: andygates

andygates — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 13:45:00 +0000

I can’t see where the Thai-script words break. Halp!

By: awjt

awjt — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 12:31:00 +0000

But c’mahn, even google would translate it better from the original… they could get off their lazy butts and type the phrases into a search bar on a smartphone…

By: awjt

awjt — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 12:29:00 +0000

It’s a veritable Pantoum of yum. (will prepare Derridian analysis, posthaste)

By: euansmith

euansmith — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 10:50:00 +0000

It is easy to scoff at the attempts of non-English speakers to translate things for those of us too lazy to learn even the rudiments of a foreign language… and that makes it even more fun!

By: Boundegar

Boundegar — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 09:34:00 +0000

He succeeded – but maybe not in the way he intended.

By: SedanChair

SedanChair — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 09:07:00 +0000

The Fish estimates / sea thicket is angry The Fish estimates / the thicket burns salt The opening stanza has us travel with "the Fish" (global marine biodiversity) as he intuits "anger" in the "sea thicket" (marine habitats). We discover the disproportionate impact on estuarine zones, where shipping and industry has introduced toxic PCBs into habitats with a variegated dispersal of salt- and freshwater areas (ll. 3-4). The Fish estimates / the thicket burns salt The Fish estimates / three taste thicket The shrimp bakes / noodles made of green grams In a clairvoyant flash, the Fish ascertains the future of humankind: as marine ecosystems are devastated, biodiversity decreases, with whole orders vanishing, oceans dead, and entire spectra of umami lost to time and memory. In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only farmed carp, tilapia and salmon (l. 6). The lower classes may subsist on a kind of extruded nutrient paste (ll. 9-10).

By: Pitawas Indharameesup

Pitawas Indharameesup — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 07:53:00 +0000

It was translated word by word. So the result is non-sensical. If you notice item #2 and #3 are written differently in Thai script, yet their English translations are the same. How useful is that or how is that possible? As a native Thai speaker, I think the writer was trying very hard to be funny when he wrote this menu.

By: peter doolan

peter doolan — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 05:17:00 +0000

the “angry” comes from “เดือด”, to boil, which can also mean to be irritated.

By: Jake0748

Jake0748 — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 03:51:00 +0000

Holy Chinese Menu Batman! Is that for real? I couldn’t even finish reading it. Too much.

By: cjporkchop

cjporkchop — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 03:34:00 +0000

Reminds me of this, the biggest and most epic mistranslated Chinese menu–
http://irfanbaig.com/funny/chinese_menu/

By: Jake0748

Jake0748 — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 03:09:00 +0000

I would eat there.

By: Doc_S

Doc_S — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 02:47:00 +0000

The Fish estimates sea thicket is angry.
The Fish estimates the thicket burns salt.
The Fish estimates.
The thicket burns salt.
The Fish estimates three taste thicket
The Shrimp bakes noodles made of green grams
The Fish estimates it not.
The Fish,
The Fish,
Woe betide the Fish.
The Shrimp does bake.
The Fish shall estimate.
And both shall harken
The Doom of All.

By: Marc Mielke

Marc Mielke — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 02:07:00 +0000

“The thicket is angry” implies spicy, right?

By: tristan eldritch

tristan eldritch — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 02:05:00 +0000

My interpretation is that the Fish is too rational; it is constantly evaluating, estimating, seizing things up, never doing. The Fish’s Hamlet-like indecisiveness incurs the ire of the sea thicket. Much salt is burned; yet the Fish continues to vacillate and estimate. Finally the more active and intuitive shrimp leaps into action and bakes noodles made of green grams. No endless, pallid estimating for him.

By: Sekino

Sekino — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 02:05:00 +0000

I estimates the thickets are look tasty.

By: TK

TK — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 01:34:00 +0000

Thai here. Those fish in the first 4 menu items are Asian seabass (in hotpot with other seafood/grilled with salt/fried with fish sauce/fried with spicy sweet and sour sauce) and the last item is baked shrimp with mung bean noodle.

By: Ian McLoud

Ian McLoud — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 01:18:00 +0000

I would appreciate a correct translation from any fluent Thai BB readers….

By: hotel

hotel — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 01:02:00 +0000

The fish cogitates
restaurant feels shrubbery